Dave Stryker

An adept jazz guitarist with a blues- and soul-influenced sound, Dave Stryker has been a sideman and a bandleader for decades. His style offers an intriguingly veiled sound, influenced heavily by the organ groups he's so often played with (Jack McDuff, Stanley Turrentine, Jimmy Smith, Lonnie Smith, and more). About half of Stryker's discography appears on SteepleChase. His celebrated recordings for the label include 1994's Full Moon, 1996's Blue to the Bone, 2004's Shades Beyond, and 2010's Keystone. Later dates appear on his own Strikezone label. 2020's Blue Soul featured his quartet with Bob Mintzer arranging and conducting the WDR Big Band. 2021's As We Are included jazz and string quartets. 2024's Groove Street also featured Mintzer's saxophones as a core character in the group's sound. In January 2026, Stryker's trio released Blue Fire: The Rudy Van Gelder Session, recorded at the historic New Jersey studio.